The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-04-14

~~ UTHh press ana Wlld
grape vines that
one could scarce have found the door
knob but for its brightness from con-
slant securing. A large, Old-fash-
toned garden, in which both flowers
and weeds were allowed to grow at
their own sweet will. stretched far be-
hind the house, and ended in forest
of beeches, path through which led
TO a dilapidated rustic temple on the
brow of hill. This temple, which Oc-
cupied an open space, was thanked by a
weather-beaten stone table, surrounded
by wooden benches, and had, evident
ly, been reared by some lover of nat
ure. But the death or absence of its
owner had allowed the place to fall
into decay, and no one in the little
town had cared to eXpend time or
money for its restoration.
DIR. Arnim Elbthal had won great re-
nOwn and an extended practice in that
distant Russian city. Wonderful stories
were told of his skill, which had, in
the Russian servant, Ivan, whom he
had brought home with him, endeav-
.ored to confirm in his broken German,
resorting to expressive pantOmime when
words failed him. According to Ivan,
his master had cut off innumerable
noses and ears, to say nothing of arms
and legs, and no one had ever felt pain
under his knife. Incredible things in
glass jars adorned his sleeping-cham-
Der. These Ivan busted every morning
with revcrential awe and not without
a secret longing for the spirits in which
they We're preserved. The doctor some
times wondered that the spirits in
these jars had so often to be renewed,
and that his store of Turkish tobacco
disappeared in such incredible ways.
AS none of the other servants smoked,
and the hOusekeeper detested the
filthy weed" Ivan must have been
cheeks often distended. and an odor of
excellent tobacco he carried about with
him, he denied this persistently, and
the doctor contented himself with an
occasional scolding. Unable to speak
Russian, although he both read and
wrote the language, he had been
obliged to make out list of reprOving
words from the dictionary. This list,
which began with "rebel' and ended
with "dog," he would read from his
easy-chair with great solemnity; the
delinquent standing before him and
listening with an air of utter annihila-
ton, until. ut the last word, he would
kiss the seam of his masters coat, and
slip like guilty thing over the thresh-
old.
Fraulein Marianne, the doctor S
cousin and housekeeper, had often in
sisted on the dismissal of this ''sav-
age" but Ivan was to the doctor a liv-
ing Renaissance of strange, active
life on foreign soil. He had
thought to remain in Kasan to the end,
but the inheritance of small fortune
through the death of distant relative
he had scarce known awakened in him
IL sudden inconsistencies for Germany,
and for the secluded little town afar
from railways, where his cradle had
stood. and which in an age of restless
activity still dreamed on as it had
dreamed on for hundreds of years.
Having purchased this vine-wreathed
house which, during all those years in a
foreign land, had stood before him
a sort of enchanted vision, he sum-
moncd his orphaned cousin Marianne,
n model housewife, as his minister of
the interior. Marianne indeed sighed
mentally that her cousin had chosen
for home his native town rather than
some great capital, with its constant
succession of new faces and amuse-
ments But yet the idea of reigning
sole mistress of n household appeared
so beautiful and enticing that she
would have followed the doctor to the
ends of the earth. She had always
liked him; she felt great respect for
him; his only fault in her eyes was an
open aversion to marriage. Aphysician
who remained single was, to say the
least, unwise. Arnim would ward of
her frequent reproaches on this score
by declaring that the unmarried
physician. like the Catholic priest, is
much more efficient than the married
one, being wholly devoted to his call
ing without the distraction of outside
interests.
"Only those undeterred by thought
of wife or family sacrifice themselves
-cheerfully, if it comes to that, he said.
my patients can attest that am not
destitute of heart. Hitherto have
had no time for love to the individual;
now it is too late. Why need l marry
when hands like yours keep my house
in order and Ivan serves me so faith
fully? Why seek TO realize personally
those torments which the poets tells us
are inseparable from love, when have
seen and still see so much of pain and
SORROW in the lives of others?''
In that foreign land our Russian
doctor had won the name of father
by ardent devotion to his calling. The
ailments of children had been his es-
pecial care. In that somber university
city, there was scarce a boy or girl Of
the poorer classes who did not know
him, did not run after him as he passed
along the streets and press its dirty
nose to the lapel of his coat. Many q
beautiful pair of woman's eyes also fol-
y ~ = Al Al l.